Page 277 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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262 ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
In the next two or three days the balance of this
handful of men contacted me, encouraged me, and
told me how they were trying to live this program of
recovery and the fun they were having doing it.
Then and then only, after a thorough indoctrination
by eight or nine individuals, was I allowed to attend
my first meeting. This first meeting was held in the
living room of a home and was led by Bill D., the first
man that Bill W. and Dr. Bob had worked with suc­
cessfully.
The meeting consisted of perhaps eight or nine
alcoholics and seven or eight wives. It was different
from the meetings now held. The big A.A. book had
not been written, and there was no literature except
various religious pamphlets. The program was carried
on entirely by word of mouth.
The meeting lasted an hour and closed with the
Lord’s Prayer. After it was closed, we all retired to the
kitchen and had coffee and doughnuts and more
discussion until the small hours of the morning.
I was terribly impressed by this meeting and the
quality of happiness these men displayed, despite their
lack of material means. In this small group, during the
Depression, there was no one who was not hard up.
I stayed in Akron two or three weeks on my initial
trip trying to absorb as much of the program and phi­
losophy as possible. I spent a great deal of time with
Dr. Bob, whenever he had the time to spare, and in
the homes of two or three other people, trying to see
how the family lived the program. Every evening we
would meet at the home of one of the members and
have coffee and doughnuts and spend a social evening.
The day before I was due to go back to Chicago—